BALLSTON SPA — Hours of jury selection Monday offered a glimpse into how the trial could unfold in the wrongful-death lawsuit the family of Darryl Mount Jr. filed nearly a decade ago against Saratoga Springs and its police department.
Attorney Steve Coffey, who along with co-counsel Brian Breedlove represents Mount’s mother, told jurors they would be shown circumstantial evidence and hear from experts who would offer conflicting testimony about the head injuries Mount suffered after he ran from police on Aug. 31, 2013. Mount, who never fully regained consciousness, died nine months later in May 2014.
The trial, which state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Buchanan told jurors will last about two weeks, will include testimony from former city police Chief Greg Veitch and former Assistant Chief John Catone, as well as current Chief Tyler McIntosh, who was the first officer to find Mount unconscious and bleeding from his head in a dark alley after an apparent fall from construction scaffolding.
Police always have said that Mount fell from a 19½-foot scaffold after fleeing police. However, his mother, Patty Jackson, who was present for Monday’s jury selection and filed the lawsuit, contends police beat her son, inflicting injuries that she alleges were not consistent with the type of wounds that would be suffered in a fall, based on a forensic medical examiner’s review of her son’s medical records.
“There are sharp positions in this case,” Coffey told the would-be jurors. “Ms. Jackson says her son was beaten by police. That is her claim. The police are claiming that didn’t happen.”
Mount who was biracial, fled from Saratoga Springs police at 3 a.m. after police said they saw him slam his girlfriend’s face into a wall. When they gave chase, Mount ducked into a dark alley near Caroline Street. There, police said they lost sight of the then 21-year-old Mount, but minutes later found him bleeding and unconscious on the pavement.
“No one is arguing the police shouldn’t have chased him,” Coffey told potential jurors. “The issue is what happened at the end of the chase.”
Coffey questioned the jurors on their feelings about police, with some being dismissed over biases for or against police officers.
In the afternoon, the attorney for city police, John Aspland, questioned jurors about social justice causes they may follow on social media as well as if they would be able to tell Jackson that she has not proven her case and therefore is not entitled to damages.
“Sympathy is not what happens in this room,” Aspland said.
He also told the jurors that there is no video of what happened to Mount and asked jurors to “keep an open mind” and “our position is no officer touched Darryl Mount.”
Jackson filed the suit in November 2014, six months after her son’s death. Cross-motions and appeals delayed the trial until Monday.
The judge also ruled on plaintiff motions. Parts of Mount’s medical records will be redacted and his criminal record will not be presented.
Opening arguments are expected to begin on Tuesday.